This resemblance would be, that Liverpool FC never replaced them properly upon their respective departures. So, let me show you the basic comparisons between their replacements and the original players.

Xabi Alonso, was meant to be replaced by Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani. Instead, he had a very short stint at Liverpool because of his injuries and his inability to fit into the system in English football. In all honesty, the 30 million pounds was a fair enough deal, but it showed Liverpool FC’s lack of planning for his departure – they didn’t have a proper eye on who could be the short term fix for the Spaniard.

Javier Mascherano, you could say that he was meant to be replaced by Lucas Leiva. The Brazilian struggled in the role initially, but he took a season to gain the respect that Mascherano initially had with the Merseyside outfit. Liverpool didn’t have a proper central defensive midfielder to replace the hole that Mascherano left behind – hence causing a terrible start to Roy Hodgson’s tenure with Liverpool FC – eventually leading up to his sacking in January.

And now Raul Meireles, the player that was bought with some of that Mascherano money when Hodgson was still in charge. Provided creativity in an otherwise lackluster season for the Liverpool FC midfield. Provided important goals and was dominating in the center of the park. Left for 13 million pounds, citing ‘false promises’ made by Liverpool FC – essentially breaking their supposed promise of raising his salary should he impress in his debut season for the Reds.

All I have to say is I had one promise at Liverpool which wasn’t fulfilled. Liverpool asked me to hand in a transfer request, that’s normal.

Raul Meireles

Meireles was the man that I think was missing in a disappointing season for Liverpool FC. He was really missed by Liverpool as the likes of Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam failed to make an impact with the Reds. The thing about Liverpool’s midfield in this past campaign showed was that it was frail. Lucas’ injury ruined a lot of things for the Reds, whilst the new signings were relatively unproven – although they came with huge price tags.

It almost brings about the question as to why Henderson was brought in this summer apart of having age on his side. 20 million pounds for Hendo, 13 million pounds for Meireles, I personally think that having Meireles around for one more season and waiting on Henderson’s development at Sunderland would have been a better option for Liverpool. I would doubt that his value would have gone any higher than that if one season was given.

But now the question is, who will replace Kenny Dalglish? Making the wrong decision could send Liverpool into free fall, and making the right one could propel them to a potential 4th placed finish next season. But then again, I ask the question, why did Liverpool sack Kenny Dalglish before actually identifying potential replacements for the Scotsman?

It has been something exercised by Chelsea, Manchester United (planning for post-Fergie era, they have had discussions deciding who should replace the Scotsman) and even Barcelona (who immediately decided that Pep Guardiola’s number 2, Tito would take the job). The saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply here. Kenny Dalglish’s transfers were extravagant and largely unsuccessful, whilst the results were poor as well.

Furthermore, Liverpool lacked the direction that Kenny offered towards the home stretch of the 2010/11 campaign. The team have been almost predictable in a lot of the matches – keeping all the possession and taking all the shots before the opponent takes their first and take home the 3 points. It was simply not rosy for the Reds.

But my question is related to the three above transfers. Why didn’t we identify someone before? If this keeps on going every year, we’ll just keep going forwards and backwards.

Welcome to the first article of Two Liverpool Fans’ special edition on the upcoming Euro 2012 competition. Here, England’s possibilities of landing the prestigious trophy under newly appointed manager Roy Hodgson will be dissected, and we’ll go their team selection and their contrivances that might see them lift the cup.

There isn’t much for the manager to worry about their goalkeeping issues as there is hardly, if not absolutely, no better man than the flawless Joe Hart to shoulder the pressure.  Conceding only 29 goals from 38 games in the Barclays Premier League campaign, his impressive form throughout the entire season was one of the key factors to Manchester City’s famous success. Next? Robert Green and Jack Butland (recently called in to replace injured John Ruddy). Green’s previously tasted FIFA World Cup experience for the national side and was the team’s first-choice goalie at one point, thus he seems to be a decent second-choice for me. And then comes Jack Butland, honestly I’ve never really heard of him before. Was shocked and surprised when Roy Hodgson opted to drop out the likes of Scott Carson, Paul Robinson and Ben Foster for this little-known 19-year-old. Well, he’s the third-choice so chances of seeing him in action are low anyway.

To the defenders. With 7 defenders included in the trip to Ukraine and Poland, which four has what it takes to be in the starting 11? The two centre-backs, in my opinion, will be John Terry and Gary Cahill. I personally think that John Terry must be selected for each game as he’s already been in the lineup for years while Gary Cahill is my pick over Phil Jones and Joleon Lescott, given the fact that Jones is still quite unreliable when it comes to big stages while Lescott’s wild header in his last match against QPR almost cost Manchester City the Premier League title. On the right-back role, Glen Johnson seems to be the only choice there although I believed the likes of Micah Richards and Kyle Walker played way better football throughout the season while Chelsea’s Ashley Cole has little competition on the other hand, with Leighton Baines being the only adversary.

We move on to the ones who are in charge in the middle of the park, the midfielders. Steven Gerrard was made captain of the team so he should be an automatic inclusion into the lineup, if the veteran Frank Lampard happens to be dropped, I see Gareth Barry as a better option than James Milner and Scott Parker after his fantastic form played a major role in City’s Premier League glory. Devils winger Ashley Young is my pick down the left flank while Theo Walcott down the right, with youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain holding an outside chance to edge one of those two out of the lineup.

Lastly, the British strikers. A couple of years ago Tottenham Hotspur forward Jermaine Defoe was undoubtedly one of the hottest properties in the country with his red-hot form. Unfortunately, the presence of Emmanuel Adebayor meant that his playing time was limited and the 29-year-old began to run out of steam soon after. Hence, making him an underdog for a spot in the lineup. The surprise inclusion of Andy Carroll seemed to have raised question marks everywhere, but in spite of his horrible season he kind of produced some spark right at the death. However, that was when all was lost for Liverpool. Yes, the boy has class, but I more or less see him as an impact sub for team. Hence, I believe United’s Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck are the men to lead the strike force for England. Rooney’s had a brilliant campaign while Welbeck done exceptionally well to outclass Mexican hotshot Javier Hernandez for a place in the Manchester United lineup.

Yes, it’s a 4-4-2 in my opinion. With the class and calibre of the players in the squad, they certainly have what it takes to land the trophy, don’t they? They are the big names, they have declared as the “Golden Generation” of English football. This might just be the final chance for the veterans to get their hands on a  trophy in international level.

Do stick around for more articles on our EURO 12 Coverage, cheers!

So here’s the goal from Luis!

Is is AVB or Roberto Martinez

It looked like everyone was linked with the job at first (although Martinez was always top dog since Dalglish left) and it has now become what I see as a 2 horse race between Roberto Martinez and ex-Chelsea and Porto manager Andre Villas Boas over the past few days. The bookies are ALL (seriously, all of them) rooting for the Wigan manager at the moment, with some pricing him at 2/1 for the job at the moment.

Personally, I would like to see the appointment of AVB. Has more pedigree than Martinez, good with the transfers and quite simply a very attacking manager with a set of very attacking tactics – something we need. But whoever is appointed will have my full support as we try and make this side ‘Champions League worthy’ in the Premier League next season.

However, this is also looking increasingly unlikely, as owners of Liverpool FC have sought help from advisors over the potential signings of AVB, and they have been skeptical, advising them against signing AVB instead. We’re just gonna have to wait and see, I guess.

Joe Cole Comeback?

Yes. Joe Cole might just come back to have one more crack at Liverpool FC.

When I signed for Liverpool, it startled me a bit, I don’t know if I felt the pressure but the city is so in love with football. It’s a religion. If I go back, I will be more prepared for it this time.

Joe Cole

Among other clubs interested include French side Lille and newly promoted Premier League side West Ham United, although Joe Cole will wait on the announcement of the new manager and find out his fate first. Had a splendid season at the French side and managed to find some of his good form prior to his transfer over to Merseyside just 2 years back now.

In other news, Alberto Aquilani has snubbed Italian giants AC Milan for a (at least for now) return to Merseyside.

Clint Dempsey to Liverpool?

Yes, this one might just happen too. Liverpool lead the chase for the American, with SkyBet calling them favourites at odds of 7/4 whilst BetVictor giving it an almost 50/50 chance, pricing the potential of this move at 2/1. Is this the player we need? I don’t know, but what I do know is that this is one of the biggest transfer rumours of the week for Liverpool, which is completely unrelated to who will succeed King Kenny.

So that’s all for this week, stay awesome, guys!

Liverpool 3-0 Wolves, Fernando's Last LFC Goal

So, why suddenly bring up Fernando Torres again? Well, it’s because of this interview he’s had just yesterday, claiming unrest at Chelsea regarding his future:

This season I have felt things that I never had before. I’ve felt like they treated me in a way that I didn’t expect, not in the way that was spoken of when they signed me.

We’ve had a lot of talks and we’ll talk about my future because the role I’ve had this season is not for me, nor is it the one I expected to play when I came here. I’m not comfortable.

Fernando Torres, speaking to ESPN

There are big arguments going around on Twitter, asking the question, whether people would take the volatile striker. The question is, at what price, and which Fernando Torres would be playing? Liverpool fans simply don’t want an uninterested and off the pace striker. But judging by what he has said to ESPN, I reckon that doing so wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Over the past few months, like Carroll, Fernando Torres has found a bit of his previous form he had at Liverpool FC. Scored a couple of goals, looked sharper, made a few goals for Chelsea. But as I said before, Liverpool fans want results, not signs, just results.

Furthermore, if Andre Villas-Boas does indeed sign a deal to manage Liverpool, that would almost certainly cost El Nino his ticket back to Anfield, after all, Mr Torres was the one who virtually single handedly cost the Portuguese manager his job (given his poor form – unable to please Russian owner Roman Abramovich).

Somewhere, deep down, we absolutely worship that blonde haired striker. He helped us in our time of need, dragged us out of large deficits and he provided use with many magical moments. So, here are a couple of tweets regarding this.

@badgerwolf Torres’ legs and head has both gone. Never recovered from inj at Liverpool. Doesn’t have the fight in him anymore. IMO.

— Gary Kenny (@garykenny1984) May 20, 2012

Torres not happy, well there’s a surprise, should’ve stayed at Liverpool. He’s always been a red at heart.

— Anthony Newbold (@Poohbear_1012) May 20, 2012

Torres for Liverpool (again) #LFC

— Bethaney Hayes(@Bethaneyx) May 20, 2012

Fernando Torres now wants to leave chelsea after being left out of UCL finals! come back to liverpool!

— Chua He An (@FreemerChua) May 20, 2012

Just read the Torres quotes, hoping he come’s back to Liverpool but that’s not gonna happen:-(</3

— abbie☮ (@WilshereLovers) May 20, 2012

Seriously though, what Liverpool fan wouldn’t take Torres back? Deep down, we still love him, no?

— Real LFC Fan (@Real_LFC_Fan) May 20, 2012

So, would you take Fernando Torres back? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below

Who should be the next Liverpool Manager According to TalkSport readers

Roberto Martinez

Odds of being the next permanent Liverpool manager (SkyBet): 2/1

Roberto Martinez has emerged as the frontrunner in Liverpool’s search for Kenny Dalglish’s replacement. Whilst he has done well in his spells with Swansea City (in the Championship a few years back), along with with Wigan, which he has done well to help them overachieve with the resources he has at his disposal, I don’t think he should really be the manager we should look at.

My simple reason is because he lacks the caliber to manager a team in Europe, and to fight for those top places in the Premier League (or any league for that matter). He is young, and brimming in potential, but if this happens, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sacked within a season’s time.

(You) couldn’t find a better manager than Roberto?

Wigan Chairman on Liverpool enquiring about Roberto Martinez

Andre Villas-Boas

Odds of being the next permanent Liverpool manager (SkyBet): 5/2

Tipped by the bookies as the manager with the second highest chance of being the next Liverpool manager. Has the youthfulness and the experience to manage teams in Europe, coupled with the ability to pick out good signings for decent money (note Juan Mata, Meireles and Courtois – doing a good job on loan at Atletico Madrid).

Was perhaps unlucky in his tenure as Chelsea manager, and was victim of ‘player power’ at Stamford Bridge. Will perhaps not suffer the same problems at Liverpool FC, with there not being as strong personalities as has been at Chelsea. Personally who I think should manage Liverpool FC.

Rafael Benitez

Odds of being the next permanent Liverpool manager (BetFred): 8/1

Perhaps the fan favourite regarding who should be manager of Liverpool next season. Led Liverpool to the Champions League, coupled with their best ever finish in the Premier League era (where they finished second, almost claiming the titled had Macheda not provided the intervention against Aston Villa and the matches that followed.

I personally think that this is a manager who has lost his touch a tad, with his tenure with Italian giants Inter Milan largely unsuccessful. I think Liverpool could do well to find someone apart from the Spaniard.

The Outsiders

A few other names have been tossed into the hat, including the likes of Didier Deschamps, Martin O’Neil and Jurgen Klopp. I personally think that of all the outsiders, Jurgen Klopp is a manager that is realistically (might be) available, and has the caliber to lead Liverpool forward. Just my thoughts on him.

Who Will Replace Kenny Dalglish?

Personally, I’m going to go with The Independent on this, and say that it is going to be the now-ex Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, whom was sacked by Chelsea mid way through this season after failing to control the personalities at Chelsea. With Liverpool, I’m sure that’s less of a problem, and he might just do well here. He’s looking for another high profile job to further his career, so this might just be a match made in heaven.

Bet365 are having odds of 7/4 on the Portuguese manager, whilst Roberto Martinez lies at the second highest possibility, with him being touted to have a 5/1 shot at the job. Rafa Benitez is said to have a 12/1 at re-landing the Anfield gig.

Rasmus Elm to Liverpool FC

Yeah. This one has been talked about for quite a few weeks now, but now it gets more interesting, because The Daily Mail claim that Liverpool are the hot favourites to sign the midfielder. Not sure if the departure of Kenny Dalglish changes things, but I reckon Liverpool might just complete this deal.

A quality midfielder, although I reckon Liverpool have enough quality in their midfield once Aquilani and Lucas Leiva return to the team. I think it’s really a striker/number 10 we need right now.

Mohamed Diame on a Free Deal

Rumours are flying around that Wigan’s Senegalese midfielder Mohamed Diame is set to move to Anfield in this summer on a Bosman deal, with him out of a contract in the summer.

Liverpool will still have to fork out quite a sum of money to afford his wages, with him rumoured to want a 60,000 pounds a week contract. More updates will follow on this deal.

However, everything hasn’t exactly gone to the script this season.

In this multiple part feature, I will be assessing many aspects of Liverpool FC, including financial, statistical, along with the state of the boardroom. But today, I will quite simply be talking about the team, the tactics and what went right and wrong with the chalkboard this long 2011/12 season.

This post is where I’ll be talking about the current state on the team – form, performances and the players who gel well with each other, along with a couple of transfer moves to make for Liverpool to strengthen their squad.

This year’s tactics were forced to be changed due to an unfortunate injury to Lucas Leiva. His injury has had an effect on the team an as a result of his injury, the Reds have done poorly in the months that have followed, but it would be wrong to blame poor form solely on missing Lucas throughout the second half of the season.

This year has seen Liverpool play mainly with a back 4 that started rocky, with them leaking goals in the pre-season, along with the opening stages of the season, but has only improved with time. This has resulted in Liverpool being the 3rd best team defensively in the Premier League this term. Injuries have hampered the defence this season, but it is the consistency in selection that has got Liverpool this great track record in terms of goals conceded this term.

Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique have done well this season, although much has been made of Enrique’s poor form of late. But this has been a solid defensive partnership, and coupled with arrivals of Martin Kelly and Sebastian Coates, this can be a defence to be reckoned with in this era of the Premier League.

Downing.... a poor signing so far.

And now off to the midfield. Perhaps the most overvalued bunch of midfielders in the country. Stewart Downing – 16 million pounds – repays this with 36 appearances, 0 goals and 0 assists. I’m pretty decent at Maths, and I am smart enough to recognise that he has had a horrible debut season for the reds. Apart from that one odd Wembley appearance against Cardiff City where he looked half able to get past the full-back, he’s been disappointing – especially for the fee that he came for – this season.

Steven Gerrard’s injuries meant that the squad have had to rotate, and I struggle to see why Maxi Rodriguez hasn’t played more this season. After those two games against Chelsea where he bagged winners earlier on, I thought he would becom a mainstay in the first XI. What happens? Dumped onto the bench and into the wilderness. I don’t get it sometimes, although I’m pretty sure there was some other reason keeping him from playing the games.

Jordan Henderson has already been covered by me here so go ahead and read that article.

Craig Bellamy’s transfer was a masterstroke, and he has proved to be a key player this campaign, although he, like Steven Gerrard, has had injury problems all season long. I classify him as a left winger, a better one than Stewart Downing this term for sure, and he has been instrumental in saving this less than decent 2011/12 campaign.

Jay Spearing has been decent, but in my opinion, that’s all he will ever be. He is not of the same caliber of Lucas, and won’t be for a while. I personally believe that despite all his passion and his effort, he just isn’t up to scratch – at least just yet – and shouldn’t be starting games for Liverpool. Especially games such as the FA Cup final.

Jonjo has been fantastic, and I think he’s got lots of potential right there, Charlie Adam has looked impressive while looking downright frustrating at the same time this season with his ‘Hollywood passes’.

Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll have had a very long season. For Luis, he was embroiled in that racism saga, and I hope we’ll see the last of this, and we see the Uruguayan at his best more next season. Luis has the ability to get past whole teams, but it has been his finishing, coupled with his indecision that often results in the loss of possession this term.

Andy Carroll has showed lots of signs of improvement. His goal against Chelsea was testament to that. He dummied John Terry, turned a couple of times in almost Suarez fashion, and then finished it off with a powerful shot that hit the roof of the net. He’s been winning everything of late (I won’t count the Swansea game because he didn’t have many proper balls to chase) and he’s quite simply rediscovered himself. Hoping he’ll have a quality season next year.

Kenny Dalglish... Liverpool Legend

The now ex-manager of Liverpool FC headed for Boston just days ago to have ‘make it or break it’ talks with the FSG, and the FSG have been quick to wield the axe and sack the manager. There hasn’t been a new manager announce yet, but it is expected that the FSG will take their time with appointing a new manager, with them having the summer period to decide on a new manager, with no competitions in the way for the next few months.

Note that this is OFFICIAL. BBC confirms this, and the rumours stipulate that he has in fact been SACKED, not that he resigned.

FSG’s reign has seen the departure of numerous backroom staff, including director of football Damien Comolli, depart. Expect more updates on this later in the day.

Now I will go into the very long and tragic tale (which has a happy ending) of how I ended up watching the Manchester City game, rather than the Liverpool game this weekend. Simply put, my sports package didn’t provide coverage for the Liverpool match. But I guess I think I was better off seeing the demise and rise again of Manchester City to clinch the Premier League title right under Manchester United’s noses.

What a comeback. What a comeback. It was the stuff of dreams, it was the stuff of champions, and it was the stuff of a billion dollars funded by some weird old Qatar foundation. I personally thought it would have been a routine win for both Manchester clubs, with City walking away with the title, but boy was it more than that.

Game starting off: never before had I seen a game where someone was defending like it was 89th minute …. at the 10 minute mark. It was extraordinary, what happened at the Etihad Stadium, and it will certainly be remembered for football neutrals around the world for some time more. It was enticing, it was exhilarating.

First goal, and I personally thought it was game over. Pablo Zabaleta, in the last game of the season, popping up to score his first Barclays Premier League goal of the year. It might be important to note that I’m a Malaysian too, so I indeed wanted QPR to stay up too, but hopefully not at the expense of Manchester City.

But then, Cisse, then Barton. Wow, everything was already so quick fire. Then came Jamie Mackie. Good old Jamie Mackie. Worked his absolute socks off and was the only one who was able to get at the City midfield (yes, midfield no defence) and he got a header past Joe Hart. 2-1 lead for QPR. And Man City in absolute disarray.

80th minute. It’s all over. It has to be. 2 goals? No chance. 90th minute. GG.com . And then, some magic. Edin Dzeko, getting on the end of a remarkable corner. And then, the moment that erupted the Etihad and silenced the crowd at the Stadium of Light. Sergio Aguero, across that penalty box. Bang, bang, finish. What a time, what a place, what circumstances, what champions.

I love this game.

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